Editorial: An ominous publicity stunt

Monday, May 8, 2006 | 7:25 a.m.

The so-called Minutemen who are patrolling parts of the border between Mexico and the United States are gaining a fair amount of national attention but in reality are contributing little if anything at all to the national debate about illegal immigration.

But at least they are harmless, or have been so far.

Now comes Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Arizona. This is the sheriff whose past ideas have included building tent cities for jail inmates despite desert temperatures exceeding 115 degrees, forcing inmates to wear pink underwear and forming female and juvenile inmates into chain gangs. Many jail inmates are serving time for relatively minor offenses, but that didn't stop Arpaio from advocating harsh, unconventional conditions on his way to becoming known as "America's toughest sheriff."

The sheriff is also known for his 3,000-member posse, civilians whom he trains and deputizes to assist in various law enforcement operations. We wouldn't have much to say about this, except that now he has commissioned 100 or more of these posse members to spread out and arrest any immigrant they suspect of being illegal.

"It is important to send the message out to stay in Mexico and don't come roaming around here hoping you're going to get amnesty," Arpaio told the Associated Press.

The sheriff has also appeared on television shows, vowing to put any of the convicted immigrants in jail for three to four years on felony charges related to being in this country illegally.

In his zeal for publicity, Arpaio is meddling where he shouldn't be. What is he going to do with the children caught with the immigrants? Put them in jail, too? What is he going to do with them after their sentences are up?

The job of dealing with immigrants belongs to federal agents. Publicity hounds like Arpaio, with his Old West posse, should stay out of it.